MOTHER NATURE AT IT'S FINEST

My peonies are blooming right now so I decided to cut some so I could enjoy them indoors. 

They are heavenly, not only are they beautiful they smell like you would think Mother Nature should smell;

soft and gentle with a hint of rain.

I wish you could see them in person.

GORGEOUS!

Notice my wrist with a watch on it in the right side photo, you can see how big these flowers really are.

AWESOME YOUTH CONFERENCE THEME SONG

Check out this theme song that was written for youth conference for the Longview, Washington Stake (LDS Church) this last Thursday thru Saturday.

We have some awesome musicians in our stake that wrote, sang and produced this number.

The whole theme for conference was "Life is a Rock".  They did a service project cleaning and repairing a Girl Scout camp.  They also did an Amazing Race event which the kids thought was THE BEST!!!!!

It almost made me wish I was 14 again...almost!

LONG LOST BROTHER AND SISTER?

Maybe it's just me but doesn't Sarah Gilbert and Constantine Maroulis look like they could be related?

Do you know of anymore celebrity look-alikes?

A LITTLE CLARIFICATION

I have had some inquiries lately about offering free printables of some of my projects.

I would love to offer free printables of the designs I do but mine are all done in the Silhouette program and I don't think I can put them into a format that can be freely downloaded. 

Although if anyone knows how to do that I would be grateful if you would share with me the process.  Then I could share with all of you.

I do offer to make the vinyl designs and sell the ready made lettering at a very reasonable price.  Please contact me if you would be interested.

Here are examples of some vinyl projects.

WINNER! WINNER! WINNER!

I am happy to announce that VICKI from Green Eyed Girl Crafts has won the vinyl giveaway.

A big thank you to all who took the time to enter and leave such sweet comments and make my 400th post giveaway so wonderful.

Oh, and by the way, you should really go check out her blog.  She is such a lovely person.  She is always thinking of others.  She does some really cute crafts too.   Thanks for entering Vicki. 

POST # 400 AND A GIVEAWAY

I am out of my funk, got some crafting MoJo back and the sun is shining.  YEAH!

I just noticed that this will be my 400th post.  Wow, that took me by surprise. 

 So I am thinking this would be a good time to do a giveaway.

I made this framed saying as a sample for a class I will be teaching in the fall and thought it might be fun to offer the vinyl lettering as the giveaway.  I found the frame at Goodwill and removed the picture, I thought I took a photo of the before but I couldn't find it in my files.  Trust me, it wasn't very cute.  I painted the frame black, removed the ugly picture, inserted some scrapbook paper behind the glass and applied the vinyl lettering on top of the glass.

If you would like to have a chance to win the vinyl lettering  {you would need to find your own frame, mine was a 12x12} all you need to do is leave a comment.  For extra entries you can become a follower and/or post about the giveaway on your blog.

I will be drawing the winner on Friday, June 24.
Also, please leave a way for me to contact you.

Head on over to the Sister's Stuff blog for a linky party too.

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Have you ever had one of those days?

When:

You are too fat

Your hair looks stupid

You have no friends

Everything you touch turns out bad

Nobody calls you

You feel like a failure

Your family just barely tolerates you

You have nothing cute to wear

You have no MoJo for anything

Nobody comments on your blog

Nobody even stops by to visit your blog

Well..........

It's one of those days 'round here.

But I will just roll with it and hopefully tomorrow will dawn brighter.

DO YOU LIKE TO GET YOUR GAME ON?

I know most households have video type games like the WII and X-Box but when was the last time you gathered your family around for a good old fashioned board game night?

Is your family a game playing bunch?  Or are they a bunch of party-poopers?

In our family we are somewhat divided when it comes to playing games.  There are a couple of people (which shall remain unnamed) who REFUSE to play games when we all get together, some who will play but without much enthusiasm and then there are some who will play anytime, anyplace.  I am in the category of the 'anytime, anyplace' group.

I remember when The Game Of Life first came out.  I was probably about eight years old and my parents, sister, brother and I nearly wore this game out playing it.  It must be a good one to stand the test of time for more than forty years.  (OOPS!  I just let you know that I am really OLD.)

This is always a fun one to play with lots of people, everyone can play without too much trouble.

If you like to play charades then you will probably like this one.

THE GAME OF THINGS is my all time favorite game.  I blogged about this before here.

Be sure and bring your imagination when you play it though.

I really enjoy playing drawing type games but have found that not many people are fond of these types of games because of the pressure to draw in front of others.

Other games we enjoy include:

Skipbo

Cribbage

Pinochle

Cranium

Curses

Golf (card game)

HOW 'BOUT YOU?   WHAT GAMES DO YOUR FAMILY ENJOY PLAYING?

  I AM ALWAYS OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS.

NOT MUCH CRAFTING BEING DONE LATELY

This week has been busy with doing things around the house.  A little babysitting, planting flowers and yard work have been mostly what's happening 'round here.

Babysitting this little cutie.  I watch her a couple of times a week.  Dawson is almost nine months old, where did the time go?  It seems like just yesterday I was posting about her birth.

We've spent some time moving some plants around in the yard and planting new ones too.

I cut a clematis down and transplanted it to this area from a temporary raised bed along with a couple of other plants that I can't remember what they are.  Maybe liatris or maybe some lilies?  Hopefull they will thrive in their new home.



Here is my rhubarb that is sharing the same bed as the above plants.  Hopefully they will all get along and thrive.

This whole flower bed got a makeover this year.  It was taken over by lots of weeds and we declared war on it this year.  I planted some new perennials this year in it so maybe by next year they will fill in a little better.

Below is an area by the made over flower bed that we re-seeded with grass seed.

This is the side of our storage shed.  It needs some pretties too.

I have a wisteria that I am trying to train to be a tree instead of a meandering vine.  The only problem with that is that you can't see the blossoms unless you go under the tree.  These blossoms smell heavenly.

 This is what it looks like as a tree.

This is one of the azaleas that is in bloom right now.

The only plants that were here when we bought the house eleven years ago were azaleas and rhododendrons.

All the rest of the photo's are taken in the front of the house.  I know I posted about a lot of them already but they are finally starting to grow and fill in.

And that explains why I haven't gotten any crafting done lately.  I have been playing outside in the yard instead of my craft room.

HOSTING BOOK CLUB

I 'get' the opportunity to host my book club luncheon once a year, thank goodness it's only once a year, I stress big time when it's my turn.
There were ten of us that attended.  The book for the month was The Dot And The Line, by Norton Juster.  It was a fun and quick read that generated lots of interesting comments.

Here is the menu:

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Layered Salad (recipe below)

Pineapple/Apricot Salad (recipe below)

Banana Split Brownie with Strawberries

Here are the recipes for a couple of the items.

Layered Salad

1/2 head iceberg lettuce

1 cup chopped baby carrots

6 green onions, chopped

1 zucchini, sliced

1 cup sugar snap peas

2 medium tomato's, chopped

3 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Prepare vegetables and layer in a pedestal bowl ending with the eggs.  Mix mayonnaise, sour cream and Parmesan cheese together and spread over salad.  Top with bacon.

This was the only picture I got of the food.  (I was little busy).

And this is the only other photo I took.  I don't own a lot of fancy dishes or glassware so I went pretty plain.

Pineapple/Apricot Salad

1- 20 oz. can crushed pineapple

1- 3 oz. package apricot or peach jello

1/2 cup sugar

1- 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

2 jars apricot baby food or 3/4 cup pureed canned apricots

1 small container whipped topping

1/4 cut chopped pecans

Simmer pineapple (do not drain), jello and sugar in a sauce pan to dissolve;  let cool to room temperature.

Mix together softened cream cheese and apricots until smooth.  Add cooled pineapple mixture to cream cheese mixture until blended.  Fold in whipped topping and add pecans.  Pour into serving bowl and refrigerate 2-3 hours.

This is just a little information on how we do our book club.
 We started out with ten women and felt like that was a good number to start with, any more than that would be difficult to host a meal for.  We have lost a couple of gals to moves and other obligations but have picked up a couple along the way.  Shawn, our organizer, originally came up with the idea of having it limited to ten women so that we would each have a turn hosting once a year.  We usually take July and August off because of vacations but for those who can make it we will meet at a restaurant in July for lunch and have a barbecue in August where we invite our husbands to join us.  Sometimes we choose a book for all to read (including husbands) for the barbecue that both men and women might enjoy.
We always have a good time enjoying one another's company, discussing the book, and more often than not we end up talking about lots of other things too.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE YARD?

Spring time pushing into summer, that's what's happening.

The weekend forecast is calling for the temperatures in the eighties-WooHoo!

Here is a close up of a bee working the heck out of this blossom.  This particular plant is called Cranesbill or Hardy Geranium.  It does very well here in the Pacific Northwest.

THE JOURNEY OF THE TRAVELING BAG

Cindy, from Rick Rack and Gingham, has come up with a cute idea using this cute bag.

Go check out her blog for all of the details HERE and join in the fun.